College scholarships

Question
Hi Tom, or should I say coach, seeing how I'm going to contact you soon anyhow.

My question has to do scholarships. I recently graduated high school in 2011, and had decided to go to a community college in riverside, california for the time being.

I have just finished my first year of college, and I was wondering about the scholarship process. I've been diving since my junior year in high school, so I have a couple years under my belt. We had state championships a couple months ago. I had placed 4th place, with a score of 242 on 1m, and unfortunately didn't place on 3m.

Right now, I'm open to look at Div 1 and Div 2 schools.

I'm so eager to fix up my diving, my only hindrance in diving seem to be reverses, however I'm slowly fixing that problem.

How would I go about obtaining a scholarship? I'm eager to try new dives, I have a strict dedication towards form, I'm always wanting to practice drills, and basics; however, I'm not diving at the moment, since we don't have off season training at my school, meaning I'll have to make up lost time when my season starts: January next year.

I would like if my current coach was more technical, since I sincerely want as close as possible that I can be in my dives.

My ambition for diving is apparent in my coach, and other divers. But it is where my academics lack, I unfortunately didn't perform nearly as well as I could have, and my gpa is shockingly low. I'm sure this cuts my chances on even getting accepted into a 4 year, not to mention add to my time at this community college.

I'm not sure how to go about this dilemma, with a crumby gpa that I'm currently fixing, and scholarship ordeal.

Thank you for the help.

Answer
Terrell -

If you want to be able to dive on a scholarship at the Division I or II level, you will need to do the following:

1. Since you are in a community college, you need to get your AA degree and do it in two years. If it takes you more than two years, your recruitability will be damaged.

2. You need to know the rules for academic eligibility to transfer. Follow these instructions:

A. Go to www.ncaastudent.org and click on Academics.
B. Read that page and then click on Athlete Academic Eligibility.
C. Read that page and then click on Becoming Eligible.
D. Read that page and then click on Eligibility Center.

At the Eligibility Center, follow the instructions to get an eligibility number. You have to have one or no 4 year college coach can recruit you.

3. Go to www.diverstocollege and sign up. It is free. Post your info so college coaches know who you are.

4.Go to www.divemeets.com. Look up Past Meets and click on NCAA events.Look for past meets (like PAC 12 Conference meets) Click on Results of any meet that interests you. Click on any divers score and their list will come up. You need to know the type of optionals they are doing at the Division I level.If you are not registered at this site, do so, it is also free.

You will need to dive in USA Diving Senior events to get the attention of college coaches. They recruit based on how well you do in meets run by divemeets.com. They look at this site regularly to see who is doing well.

The most important thing you can do right now is make sure your GPA increases during the upcoming school year as if it stays low, college coaches cannot recruit you.

Good luck.